Many aesthetic and medical skin treatments heat the skin to a temperature that can cause damage to the skin. Frequently, for added protection, skin treatment systems include vessels filled with a substance that could be used as a skin cooling material. The skin cooling material can be packed in cartridges, cylinders, canisters and other similar products. Such cylinders or canisters are typically installed by the user and may be removed and replaced by the user, when the skin cooling material in the vessel is depleted.
For example, many of Candela skin treatment systems incorporate a Dynamic Cooling Device (DCD) used to provide skin protection and palliative relief during aesthetic skin treatment procedures. Such systems deposit a user selectable amount of cryogen spray prior to, during, or after the aesthetic skin treatment so as to provide these beneficial effects. Cryogen, a liquefied gas is usually stored in a vessel under pressure so that it can be delivered to the treated skin segment in liquid or gaseous state.
Typically, each of the materials used for skin treatment is a specially formulated and/or certified material. For example, the cryogen content of the vessel has to be maintained at a high level of purity. Impurities could result in any or all of the following: patient irritation, allergy and combustion of impurities during the skin treatment procedure. The impurities could also clog the skin cooling material delivery system and restrict flow of the cooling material degrading efficiency of the cooling required for skin treatment procedure.
In order to ensure and maintain the purity of the specially formulated or certified for skin treatment cryogenic liquid, the vessel itself needs to not impart contaminants to the liquid. Appropriate certification of vessels and cryogenic materials is needed. Additionally, different measures preventing refill of used vessels by noncertified re-fillers could be undertaken.
The price of a non-certified cryogenic liquid is usually lower than the price of the specially formulated and certified cryogenic liquid. Users of cooling systems could be tempted to use these lower cost, non-certified cryogenic liquids, at least some of the time, especially when cryogenic fluid vessels are depleted. Notwithstanding safety issues, this savings in cost is quickly lost when the skin treatment delivery system needs to be replaced because of a clogged skin cooling material delivery system or there is injury to the patient.
Pressurized liquid storage vessels are typically used in apparatuses that require continuous or pulsed supply of cryogenic fluid or gas. Usually, these vessels filled by the cryogenic fluid or gas contain an amount of cryogenic fluid sufficient for multiple discharges and refills. This typically requires the vessel to be associated with a mechanism allowing connecting and disconnecting gas flow between the vessel and the skin treatment apparatuses. Such mechanism could be a valve that supports filling of the vessel by the cryogenic liquid and discharge of the cryogenic liquid from the vessel. Typically the valve operates in an open state when mounted to the apparatus, and closed state when dismounted from the apparatus. The valve is typically designed to allow many mounts and dismounts to the apparatus. A second value further downstream is used to precisely meter and time the discharge of liquid to skin during laser delivery procedures.
Typically, the vessels or canisters and valves associated with them are designed and manufactured for multiple canister refilling cycles. Accordingly, the valves are designed and manufactured, to permit a user to disconnect the canister from the apparatus for refilling, and reconnect when necessary. As explained above such refilling of vessels is not acceptable for skin treatment applications since delivery of non-certified cryogenic liquid cannot be avoided and can cause damage to the patient and/or apparatus.
There is therefore a need for disposable pressurized gas vessels and in particular, valves which are intended for a single fill of a canister used in a skin treatment apparatus.
Applicants believe that the following US patents and patent Applications reflect the current state of the art: U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,445 to Buford et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,291 to Finney, U.S. Pat. No. 8,316,873 to Bejhead et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,720,858 to Bottcher et al., U.S. Pat. No. 9,605,789 to Wray, U.S. Pat. No. 9,702,505 to Ames et al., US 20160053915 to Duca et al., US 20160186891 to Hopper, US 20170008752 to Tuohey et al., US 20170354451 to Marin et al. and US20170014174 to Levine et al.